1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to machining centers having gantries, and more particularly, to a multi-tool gantry machining center constructed from an extendable transverse bridge that is installed thereon with a plurality of movable seats each carrying a tool.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional gantry machining center, as provided in FIGS. 1 and 2, comprises a base 10, a transverse bridge 11 that is mounted on the base 10 and reciprocates along a direction parallel to a Y-axis of the base 10, and a movable seat 12 that reciprocates along a direction parallel to an X-axis of the base 10. The movable seat 12 carries a tool serving to process workpieces.
As to a multi-tool gantry machining center, plural said movable seats 12 are settled on the transverse bridge 11 for carrying different tools. However, the number of said movable seats 12 settled on the transverse bridge 11 is in inverse proportion to the travel length of each said movable seat 12. In other words, the travel length decreases as the number of the movable seats 12 increases. Consequently, the give and take between diversity of tools and processing efficiency of the tools has become a difficult choice to machine designers.